Ashes of Corruption
by ShivaVixen
Summary: Sequel to Ripples in Time, a Time Travel AU. The largest Hurdle has been passed, and life continues on as they live their second chances. However, when one of your opponents was/is a rather corrupt company, there are always skeletons to be found, and shadows to be banished. Warning: Story will go into psychological issues, violence, occasional cursing, pseudo-science and mysticism.
1. Chapter 1

**Welcome to the sequel of Ripples in Time. This will be Five Chapters long, and once again, the main focus will be Friendship, and what one does with a second chance after the main battle is done, and how long the clean-up of such an event might take.**

**There are several Subplots in this fic, of varying degrees of focus, but you'll only see an occasional mention of Barret- his subplot was dropped and made into its own one shot, which will be refined and then posted around the same time as Chapter 3 (Or Chapter 4) of this fic. **

**If you have not read Ripples in Time, well, I'd highly recommend it. This won't make much sense otherwise. The timeline on this fic is pretty loose, mostly because, well, my math skills aren't the greatest (I'm a solid C average in Math, with the occasional B). For those of you who like TV Tropes, yes, I am one of those writers who cannot do math very well.**

**Please remember, this is an ALTERNATE UNIVERSE, and thanks to Time Travel, EVENTS HAVE BEEN ALTERED FROM CANON. The Characters and world of the Final Fantasy VII compilation belong to Square, I'm just having fun.**

* * *

**Soldier Living Floor, ShinRa, Midgar**

THUD!

Cloud Strife blinked opened his eyes, and rolled over to look at his roommate. "I told you to move that trunk out of the way last night."

"Sorry Cloud, didn't mean to wake you." Zack Fair rubbed the back of his head.

"Let me guess, Aerith?" Cloud glanced at the alarm clock, and decided to give up on going back to sleep. "Or are you freaking out about wedding plans again?"

"Both! We still haven't decided whether she'll move into the First Class apartment with me, or get an apartment somewhere else, and I don't know if I should wear a tux or the dress uniform, and I know Rufus has offered to help, since y'know, we sent that alien bitch packing almost a year ago, but Aerith is still hesitant about anything ShinRa related, and Tseng's doing that weird 'Older Brother' thing where he makes pointed comments about how I better make her happy, and I do not want to get killed by Turks!" Zack waved his arms. "And that sword keeps glowing when my mood changes, which causes my eyes to change color and that makes the recruits freak out and Dr. Crescent keeps frowning when she goes over my blood work, and you and I still have to get mako shots a la Proffessor Creepy's recipe because we can't stop or there might be some sort of freaky withdrawal symptoms . . . will you make some sort of expression, because you're starting to creep me out." Zack finished, finally noticing Cloud's blank look.

"You're heading to the gym, then?"

"Training room, actually, they're got a Gongaga simulation I promised to try out."

"I'll join you, then."

"Really? Alright! Don't forget your belt, You're first class y'know." Zack shifted the trunk out of the way and headed to the kitchen.

"Yeah." Cloud snorted, Rufus had been quick to promote first Zack, then Cloud, as well as promoting some third classes to second. He was pretty sure Rufus had some sort of angle going, and was praying that said angle didn't involve too much cross-fire.

Of course, that didn't mean he was going to adhere to the regulation uniform like Zack and Angeal. Cloud smirked a little as he fastened the pauldron with the metal wolf's head on his shoulder, and straightened the Fusion Swords harness- that reminded him, he still need a name for it.

* * *

**Science Department, ShinRa, Midgar**

"Dr. Crescent?" Professor Raleigh moved through a room cluttered with boxes of Hojo's notes that had yet to be catalogued. "Dr. Crescent?"

"Hmm?" Lucrecia Crescent sat up, surrounded by notes with a pen clenched in her mouth, her hands full of stray papers.

"Doctor, have you been down here all night?" Raleigh blinked.

"I don't think so, uh . . ." Lucrecia checked her watch, then winced. "I guess I have, Raleigh, could you get me a copy of the supply records for medical?"

"I think that's more of a job for a secretary, which you need." Raleigh crossed her arms. "Where's that body guard of yours, surely he didn't leave you alone."

"I guess . . ." Lucrecia sighed. "Vincent's over there, he's been helping me sort through this mess."

"And have been unsuccessful at finding what you want, I might add." Vincent emerged from the shadows, and Raleigh stiffened in surprise.

"I'm trying to track down all of the . . . mixes of Jenova cells that Hojo used. He's used several different names for the different mixes and there are three names unaccounted for." Lucrecia explained to Raleigh, and sighed again, this time stifling a yawn. "It's worrying, because so far I've found evidence of testing these different mixes on animals in the Biology and Biopsy labs, but absolutely nothing on whether he considered them successful or not."

"Well, we're working on the mixes of J-cells in the soldier serums liked you asked, but President Rufus wants the Soldier program to continue running, though they're not going to accept anymore recruits after this last group goes through."

"He has to keep it running, the peace with Wutai is strained, and the people expect there to be soldiers." Vincent noted.

"There's got to be a better way . . . damn it." Lucrecia winced.

" . . . You can't move again." Vincent moved over.

"My legs have fallen asleep." Lucrecia admitted, "Where's my crutch?"

"I'm going to start looking for an actual, permanent, assistant for you, you need one." Raleigh shook her head, and joined Vincent in helping Lucrecia up without knocking over the notes.

"That reminds me, I need to talk to Hollander . . . and Gillian Hewley, I need to write that down." Lucrecia mumbled, her mind moving to the next problem on the list.

"You can do that after some sleep."

* * *

**Department of Administrative Research, AKA Turks, ShinRa, Midgar**

"Any change?" Shotgun glanced in the small room that resembled a hospital room.

"He's dreaming, Dr. Crescent thinks there's a way to level him out, but she's real hesitant on doing it." Gun looked at her. "Your turn for Kunsel Watch?"

"Yes. Rod's waiting for you, there's apparently a discrepancy in Weapon's department numbers, and Scarlett's claiming dumb."

" . . . it's frightening, isn't it?" Gun noted, looking back at the still form on the bed. "How much we became complacent, all those people that we condemned just by following orders?"

"Yes, it is . . . but it could have been much worse."

"I doubt it." Gun left, and Shotgun quietly sat down next to Kunsel's bedside. He no longer cried out or mumbled, and mostly slept, though his brainwave patterns worried the doctors when they did come in to check. If his eyes opened, it was to stare blankly at nothing, unresponsive to any attempts to make him focus.

"Hey, Kunsel, I don't know if you've heard, but Veld retired. He's still helping as a consultant, but Tseng's in charge now. Gun's probably still complaining about Elena, huh? You'd think the two of them would put aside their differences for just a minute and be sisters, but everything just turns into a competition." Shotgun snorted. "Speaking of competitions, we've got a new one going between departments- Public Safety got broken into pieces, the biggest piece was merged with Urban Development, by the way- and Reno started it by slipping hair dye into Sephiroth's shampoo- it was tinted pink for a week."

Kunsel was able to hear her, but couldn't bring himself to focus on her voice, pull himself to reality, instead, he followed memories of another life, trying to find what happened to Zack Fair, the danger that was Hojo . . . and the disappearance of 'someone'.

* * *

**Commanding Soldier Offices, ShinRa, Midgar**

"Angeal, a word?"

"Hmm?" Angeal glanced up from his desk in time to see a large, dead, by virtue of being fried, bug in front of his face. "What the- Genesis!"

"This was in my room. I've asked nicely before, but now I'm telling you, you need to do something about those plants!" Genesis huffed.

"I'll see what I can do." Angeal promised.

"Good, now that leads me to my second question, which is why are you awake this early and doing paperwork here instead of your room?"

"I need to finish this. Why are you up so early?"

"My wing came out while I was sleeping, and that bug was on my toothbrush." Genesis crossed his arms.

"Coffee, then?" Angeal pushed back from the desk and stood.

"Tea, actually, I- Angeal!" Genesis steadied his friend, who had taken only a few steps and suddenly swayed, almost falling over. "Are you alright?"

"I don't . . . I was just dizzy." Angeal let Genesis steer him back to the chair. "I haven't had breakfast yet."

"And not enough sleep." Genesis sat him down. "_The wandering soul knows no rest._"

"Genesis, I'm fine." Angeal failed at waving the other off. "I'll just eat something. I have to meet with Zack later."

"As you wish, I probably should get started on my own paperwork."

* * *

**President's Office, ShinRa, Midgar**

"I really need to fix this office." Rufus stared at the scorch marks from Reeve's explosion.

"You keep saying that. What's keeping you?" Reeve noted as he sat down.

"There are a lot more important things than redecoration, like finding out what Heidegger is up to."

"Isn't that a job for the Turks?" Reeve raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, and no. The Turks are busy with the past money trails, as are a good percentage of the business offices. I can't have them going after what is basically a lack of activity- as it is the last thing Veld did was recruit more Turks." Rufus sighed. "I'd like you to head the investigation, and I think you should work with Strife on this- I've already asked Lazard to assign him to you, and Tseng has agreed to send a Turk to help. It'll probably be Reno."

"What makes you say that?"

"Reno was Tseng's second-in-command last time, despite his . . . personality. Tseng's expressed a interest in Reno as his second again, so I'm fairly sure that Reno's going to be sent on more high-classed missions to prove it- which is what this mission is."

"Cloud's still a little annoyed with being promoted."

"That was Sephiroth's idea, he and Genesis put in several recommendations for Strife, and then Fair joined in. His were more creative." There was a knock at the door, and Rufus allowed them in.

Rude came in with a box with holes in it.

"Rude?"

"I found something in the labs that you might like." Was the only preamble as he set the container on Rufus' desk.

Rufus warily opened the box, then blinked rapidly. Reeve stood up to look. Curled up in the bottom of the box was a dark furred creature that was very familiar, though very young.

"Dark Nation . . . how?" Dark Nation hadn't survived the attack on ShinRa. It had been one of his regrets, but one that he had never knew how to go about fixing.

"Found her in the breeding section, Dr. Crescent confirmed that this project would be allowed to survive, they had to put down the Marlboro and Muu mix- that one apparently was trained to kill any human that approached it." Rude explained.

Rufus quietly scooped up the slightly over-large pup, who barely even woke up to curl up closer against him. Reeve and Rude tried not to smile.

"She'll grow quickly, right?" Reeve asked.

"Yes, she was full grown within a year and a half, the last time." Rufus smiled, rubbing the pup's head. "Thank you, Rude."

"It was no trouble at all, sir."

* * *

**Wolf's Den, Costa Del Sol**

"Morning Tifa, long night?" Mrs. Strife asked as her current housemate woke up from her doze on the couch.

"Yeah, sorry."

"It's no problem, Barret called by the way, he's going to be sending you baby pictures of Marlene." Mrs. Strife shook her head a little.

"I'm not surprised, most of Marlene's baby pictures didn't survive the last time." Tifa stretched. "I'm going to head to bed."

"I'm going to head to the market, do you want anything?"

"Mm, Hair clips, my boss wants me to try pulling my hair back so no one yanks on it."

"Alright, see you in a bit." Mrs. Strife was highly enjoying the fact that she was no longer in Nibelheim. Yes, the mountains had been her home, and they hadn't sold their old house, but Mrs. Strife was enjoying not being the focus of gossip for the first time in years. As she approached the store, her eyes caught a 'missing child' poster, for a fairly young child, a five year-old that had gone missing.

"Morning! How are you today, ma'am?" The Grocer, a kindly old fellow whose children had long since flown the nest and were busy with children of their own, nodded to her as he set out some more fruit.

"Doing quite alright. I noticed the missing child poster, any idea of what happened?"

"No idea. It's happened before, but either A) the kid went with another family and no one noticed, or B) the parents weren't paying enough attention and lost their own kid." The Grocer shook his head. "I'm keeping an eye out, and praying the kid didn't try swimming on his own."

"Me too." Mrs. Strife shuddered at the thought.

"Well, enough gloom and doom! How can I help you today?" She stayed awhile, chatting with him, before heading back to the Villa. Someone had put up the missing child posters on telephone poles, and she quietly took one of the extras so she could show Tifa.

* * *

**Cosmo Canyon**

Nanaki ran, mostly just for the sake of running. Things had been changing steadily, they had ShinRa personnel studying the alternatives to Mako energy. They also had members of Avalanche who had sought political sanctuary, and things were tense at times.

Deneh watched over the members of Avalanche, and was starting to learn how to better deal diplomatically with others. Now if only the humans would stop snapping at each other.

Nanaki strangely found himself missing Yuffie's habit of getting into trouble- it would certainly break up the steady monotony that was becoming his life- then quickly stopped and shook his head. Monotony was good, and while he missed his friends he would settle for nice, boring reunions.

He began running again, completely ignorant of being watched.

* * *

**Yuffie, and Sephiroth, will show up next chapter. So, so far, what do you think of the sequel? (This will be updated every two weeks, on Wednesdays . . . or at least, that's the plan. Sunday morning updates may also happen. This is due to the fact I now work weekends.) How'd you like my introduction for Dark Nation? I debated long and hard about adding DN, but decided that Rufus earned his right to keep her in this timeline.**

**And is it Muu or Mu? **

**Given that the Mako injection is treated like a drug, I imagine there would be severe consequences if the soldiers tried to stop taking it cold. Especially given the possibility that most of the firsts were exposed to even more experimental treatments.**

**Wedding Planning- takes somewhere between six months and a year to be able to book everything, and is very stressful. That's about all I know.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Some really good points have been raised in reviews, and I will try to use some of those points, but I guarantee nothing. Not even consistent updates or chapter lengths. **

**A reminder: This is an ALTERNATE UNIVERSE. Therefore, EVENTS HAVE BEEN ALTERED FROM CANON. In some cases, events are MAJORLY ALTERED. Someday, I hope to not have to post this reminder. To the flamer (and any future flamer) with poor grammar and inability to read large print, your flame was given to Genesis who used it to attack (I mean, train) recruits. **

**Final Fantasy VII (Y'know, they probably should change the name, cause there's nothing 'final' about it.) and it's Compilation (See?) are property of Square. This is a slightly deranged mind having fun.**

**(This turned into a monster of a chapter, about 16 pages in word, so . . . sorry.) **

* * *

**Vice President's Office, ShinRa, Midgar**

Reeve sighed as he finished unpacking another box. He would have preferred to stay in his Urban Development office, but Rufus had been insistent, and his so-called friends had found the entire thing amusing and didn't try to help. Which lead to him using his lunch hour to slowly move boxes from one office to the other and unpacking them, mostly because he wanted to draw out the process for as long as possible.

"Sir, Major Strife is here." Something else that still needed to be fixed, Reeve absently noted as he reached for the button to reply, was that Elena was still his secretary, with no intention of ever joining the Turks while her sister was there.

"Send him in." Reeve spotted the box he had just unpacked begin moving of its own accord. Mini Cait had randomly decided to start building a fort of boxes in one corner, and Cait Sith was helping. "Oh no, I'm going to need that box later!"

"Och! Please, Reeve? I need it for the tower!" Mini Cait held tight to the box. "Ye can always get another box!"

"So can ye- I mean, you!" Cait Sith was laughing at the two of them. "You keep stealing all the other boxes."

"Should I come back later?" A dry voice interrupted the impending argument.

"Cloud! Ye're looking different." Cait Sith jumped up from his seat near the fort, and dashed toward Cloud. "Familiar, though."

"Cloud, tell Reeve to let me keep the wee box!" Mini Cait also dashed, but due to his holding onto the box ended up tripping and landing inside of it.

" . . . I don't want to know." Cloud stated as Reeve scooped up the box.

"It's a long . . . story . . ." Reeve finally looked at Cloud, and found himself blinking. The wolf's head on the single pauldron, and harness for the fusion swords weren't unusual, but Cloud had managed to recreate the rest of the outfit he had worn during and after the Geostigma crisis, though the cloth covering his left leg didn't appear to be an apron, and was attached to a smaller black version of the soldier belt. "When did you?"

"This morning, after training with Zack, finally got it all together while he went off to speak with Angeal- think Rufus will mind?"

"Probably not. He knows you." Reeve smiled, relaxing in the presence of something familiar. Despite trying, successfully, to change the timeline, the differences still made them uneasy at times, and having something, anything familiar helped ease the transition. "We've got a mission for you."

"I'm not going to like it, am I?"

"What makes you say that?" Reeve blinked.

"Rufus is having you do the briefing." Cloud pointed out as he moved to sit down.

"Well, he assigned it to me as well . . ." Though Cloud was more than likely right- Rufus had developed the habit of using Reeve to mention things to Cloud that the other knew wouldn't be received well. "Anyway, Rufus needs us to look into Heidegger- he's gone quiet. You'll probably be assisted by a Turk, but they're busy with Business, Science and Weapons."

"Why me?" Cloud took the paperwork for the mission. "I'm a bit more likely to kill him." Heidegger had been one of the few kills that Cloud couldn't bring himself to care about, one way or another. (Then again, none of them had cared- Heidegger and Scarlet had been so wrapped up in themselves that they hadn't cared about the end of the world.)

"Fair's focused on his marriage, Lazard and Genesis are making sure that no soldiers went AWOL when they hid themselves from ShinRa, Sephiroth is working with Wutai, and Hewley is focused on the new trainees, the other firsts in Junon are overseeing deployment and recruiting. You're the only one that Rufus would trust with an assignment like this." Reeve pointed out, and quickly grabbed the box that was once again moving away from his desk. Mini Cait hopped back into it and sulked. "Mini Cait will be going with you."

"What?!" Mini Cait's head popped up with a yowl. The intercom's buzzer temporarily saved Reeve from the impending tantrum.

"Sir, there's a Turk to see you." Elena sounded slightly annoyed.

"Send them in." Reeve sighed- Mini Cait's accent had thickened to the point of being incomprehensible as he protested being sent out.

"Turk Reno, reporting for a mission, yo." Reno entered with a smirk. It froze in place when he noticed the temper tantrum Mini Cait was trying to throw.

"Sit down. As I was explaining to Major Strife, we need to find out what Heidegger has been up to- he's become rather withdrawn, and that is worrying. You two will have Mini Cait Sith with you, in case something happens." Mini Cait crossed his paws, still sulking.

"A cat with a crown and cape is going to be pretty obvious, don't you think?" Reno blinked. In response, Mini Cait jumped out of the box, removed the crown and cape, and a soft whirr of machinery shifted his spine and front paws so that when he stood on all fours, he more resembled an actual cat.

"Mini Cait is the only Cait Sith unit capable of resembling an actual feline."

"And he's mah little brother, so dinnae go getting him destroyed." Cait Sith added as Mini Cait shifted back to standing on his back legs and quickly grabbing his miniature cape and crown.

" . . . Right . . ." Reno blinked, and Cloud quickly scooped up Mini Cait before the little guy jumped back into the box.

"Call in anything you find that might be of interest, I'll be working on things from here."

"Where was Heidegger last seen?"

"Sector Seven Plate, he was moved there after ShinRa repossessed his Sector 1 apartments due to proven embezzlement."

"Then we'll start there." Cloud glanced at Reno. "Unless you have another suggestion."

"Not at all, probably the best bet." With that, the two (with Mini Cait holding onto Cloud's pauldron, refusing to look at Reeve) headed out.

* * *

**Soldier Commanding Offices, ShinRa, Midgar**

Genesis had half a mind to set the files on his desk on fire. The amount of paperwork for confirming that the soldiers were returning to duty was staggering, and while his stint as a POW had improved his patience . . . there were only so many times one could read the in-triplicate forms and their triplicate confirmations that he had read them before he was sure he'd go insane.

A knock on his door was a welcome relief. "Come in!" Genesis blinked as Zack came in, glancing around his office. "What do you want, Puppy?"

"Have you seen Angeal today?" Genesis blinked at the question, looking at the younger first.

"This morning, for awhile before he was going to meet you. Why?"

"He never showed. I figured maybe something came up, and he had to deal with recruits or something, but they haven't seen him either and he's not in his office." Zack sighed. "I don't know, I've got a bad feeling."

"So do I." Genesis got up from his desk. "Let's check his room first, he was under the weather this morning, he might have gone to lie down." And not told anyone. Genesis shook his head slightly. Even sick, Angeal always called to let someone know.

It was a short trip to Angeal's quarters, and Genesis didn't bother knocking, Zack on his heels.

"Angeal!" Zack called out as he entered the rooms, and noticed the buster was missing from the spot Angeal always had it when he was home.

"He's not in his bedroom." Genesis was scowling as he exited the bedroom. "Everything's where it's supposed to be."

Zack didn't answer, looking worried. Genesis rolled his eyes.

"Puppy, we might be over-reacting, there are plenty of things that could have happened- he stopped by medical, he stopped by Dr. Crescent's, Tuesti's Cait Siths ambushed him and stole his PHS, the Turk's asked for his input . . . it could be anything, and I'm sure that he will call when he can."

"I hope you're right . . . I'm going to be heading to Aerith's . . . let me know, if you find him?"

"Don't worry, Puppy, you'll be first on the list." Genesis waved the other off, but was privately still worried, and headed to Angeal's office, just in case the other had returned while they weren't there.

Nothing had changed much from the morning, he quietly noticed, and the bad feeling he had grew, though he didn't know why.

* * *

**Science Labs, ShinRa, Midgar**

Lucrecia glared at the box of unorganized files. Apparently, Hojo had decided that, in case of him not being able to continue his work, he would make it as difficult as possible for someone else to figure out his system.

"Doctor, I found you a secretary." Raleigh entered the room with a nervous young red-head. "She's good with computers; I need to get back to my lab."

"Alright, thank you." Lucrecia looked at the young woman who looked a little unsure. "I'm Dr. Crescent, you are?"

"Jessie, Jessie Blanc. I was just hired . . ." Jessie looked at the mess of papers. "Wow . . ."

"And this is only a small percentage of the stuff I have to go through." Lucrecia sighed. "It can wait for a moment, let's go to my office and get you oriented."

Jessie followed, eyes wide as she took in her surroundings. She had just submitted her application to the office that handled applicants, highlighting her ability to use computers when Professor Raleigh had come in, taken a look at her application, and practically hired her on the spot.

"Tea or coffee?" Dr. Crescent leaned on her crutch. She was going to have to lie down soon.

"Coffee, please- wait, shouldn't I be getting that for you?"

"Later, let me do it right now. How much did Professor Raleigh tell you?"

"Just that you needed an assistant to deal with paperwork."

"My predecessor left a lot of his notes scattered, I need help putting them in a computer system for easy access." Dr. Crescent gave Jessie her coffee as she sat down at a cluttered desk, gesturing for Jessie to join her. "As well as someone to occasionally run errands and make notes. It's going to be a lot of work for the next few months, and I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask for overtime right off the bat- I've been trying to get the system organized for months already while the entire department is being audited due to my predecessor's . . . lack of discretion in projects. It's just a large mess right now."

"I'm great with computers and organizing, and I don't mind overtime!" Jessie assured the doctor, who looked at her in weary amusement.

"You might change your mind about that last bit." Dr. Crescent took a sip of her coffee. "Oh, and Vincent might be dropping in at random points, he's my boyfriend/bodyguard. He looks frightening, but he won't bother you."

"Oh, okay." Jessie blinked, and took a sip of coffee before she could ask why her boyfriend was her bodyguard. "Um, if I can ask- what did happen to your predecessor?"

"Feel free to ask any questions you want, as for my predecessor . . . I shot him." Dr. Crescent stated matter-of-factly. "He was going to kill Vincent and my son." She added, seeing Jessie's shock. "As well as experiment on me, so, he had it coming."

"Ah, that makes . . . sense?" Jessie was failing at imagining the woman in front of her shooting anyone.

"Trust me, go through a few of his notes on his . . . experiments, and you'll be wondering why no one shot him before." Dr. Crescent gave her a small smile. "What else would you like to know, about either the job or me?"

"Well . . ."

* * *

**Aerith's Church, Slums Sector 5**

"What do you think about these colors?" Aerith held up a sky blue and light pink.

"They look like a nursery?" Zack blinked from where he was laying next to the flowers. "Why not green, white and yellow, like your flowers?"

"I think the green would be too dark . . . white and yellow would wash out, I think . . ." Aerith sat next to him with a frown. "Mother's already gotten the cake planned, I think Mrs. Strife is going to be helping her . . . Tifa's coming in a week and a half to work on dress fittings, though Yuffie keeps insisting I try Wutaian wedding dress- so I half expect her to pop out of nowhere with a dress for me to try somewhere in the near future. –Ah!" Aerith squeaked as Zack reached out and pulled her so she was lying half on him. "Zack!"

"'Relax, it'll be alright', isn't that what you're always saying to me?"

"Sorry, I should really follow my own advice . . . I just have this weird feeling that trouble's coming."

"Well, that would be because I finally wrote my parents telling them I'm getting married . . . I haven't written anything since I wrote that I met you . . . Dad might kill me." Zack sheepishly ran his free hand through his hair. Aerith just smiled. "How about blue and green?" Zack offered after a moment of silence. "Not too girly, white would go with that, and so would yellow and red, if you want to use some red flowers."

"That might work . . . I thought you liked pink."

"On you, yes, it's your color. Not so much for a wedding." Zack shifted a little. "Reception could be here, we're only inviting friends, which just leaves the place we're going to actually say I do."

"Tseng said he knew a judge that could be trusted not to talk." Aerith frowned and sat up. "There it goes again."

"Trouble?"

"I don't know, it never lasts long . . . after that battle with the Calamity, it's like I can hear the planet better, so maybe I'm just feeling something that's always been there."

"But you don't believe that." Zack noted, pushing himself to sit up.

Aerith just shook her head, and let Zack wrap her in a hug. "It's trouble, I just don't know what kind."

* * *

**Vice President's Office, ShinRa, Midgar**

"Do you have to sneak up on me like that?" Reeve sighed, shaking his wrist a little to dispel the small traces of an aborted spell.

"Keeping you on your toes." Vincent leaned against the desk as Cait Sith began playing with the tattered edges of his cloak. "You wanted to talk?"

"Yes, I didn't get a chance with Cloud . . . what do you think about getting Elena into the Turks?"

"I don't see any reason to do so." Vincent crossed his arms, mindful of his gauntlet. "We changed things, Reeve, you all mentioned before that Elena joined the Turks after Reno was badly injured at Sector Seven. That event happened a year or two from now, give or take. Elena may join the Turks then, or she may never join them. Things have changed, there is no reason to try and make them what they were in an alternate timeline."

"I suppose so . . ."

"Or is this because she's developing the same sort of crush on you that she had for Tseng?"

"I don't think-"

"Reeve." Vincent cut him off. "Don't worry about it. Focus on the present."

" . . . I'll try not to." Reeve sighed.

* * *

**Above Plate, Sector 7**

Reno would be lying if he said he wasn't the least bit curious of Cloud Strife. Unfortunately, once Rufus had taken over that meant that, while Soldier returned, the Turks had their work cut out for them trying to find out who was embezzling, who was a certified Psycho (somehow, it didn't surprise him that Hojo's staff were all varying degrees of psychotic, or the guys in developmental weapons were a couple bullets short of a full clip) and helping the business departments check out their many, many numbers to make sure things were okay. Air and Space was now considered a satellite business, and Safety had gotten broken into Soldier (Troops) Urban Development (some sort of city police or fire department force, Reno hadn't paid attention) Medical (apparently, Safety had been responsible for disease control and quarantine, which didn't make him feel safe) and Weapons (Technically, their joint projects became just Weapons).

It was a giant mess to try and organize, and there were a few weeks where he was sure something like a riot or strike was going to happen, especially in the beginning. And it had left not a lot of time for him to satisfy his curiosity beyond looking at a couple files that he'd managed to get his hands on.

"So, Cloud- can I call you that? You grew up with Valentine, right?" Reno looked over at Cloud as they drove over to Heidegger's new address.

"Yes." When Cloud didn't elaborate, Reno resisted the urge to hit his head on the steering wheel. This was like Rude and Tseng. Although, apparently Rude talked more to him than he did to Tseng, which Reno had always found odd.

"And he let you join soldier- you knew what you were getting into, right? Hojo and all that shit."

"We discussed it." Cloud shrugged, and then frowned. "We're going to have to walk." There were a group of cars parked in the middle of the street.

"Yeah . . . at least you didn't bring all those swords with you." Reno wasn't sure what to make of the amount of swords the blond liked to carry, but at least he settled for just bringing two.

"I brought materia to make up for it." Cloud pointed out a spot that was out of the way, but still clear if they needed to make a quick getaway.

"Works for me, yo." Reno pulled over, and then glanced at the cars. "Think it's a funeral?"

"Possibly, or bad news." The two headed down the street.

"Bastards! Give me back my son!" Reno took a step back as a blur from one of the houses lunged at them; Cloud, instead, took a step forward and caught the screaming woman before she impacted into a car. "Give him back! Give him back!" She hit Cloud's un-pauldroned shoulder repeatedly.

"Lady, we have no idea what you're talking about!" Reno glanced at the very unfriendly crowd that came out of one of the apartment complexes.

"Honey, stop . . ." A man, the woman's husband apparently, pulled her away from Cloud, who hadn't reacted to the assault.

"Abel?" Cloud tilted his head, showing a lot more interest. "Is that you?"

"Do I know you?" The man blinked, before recognition crossed his face. "Oh, you're the soldier I talked to . . . Cloud, right?"

"Yes, what's happened?"

"Like you don't know!" The woman snapped. "A soldier took my son!"

"You sure it was a soldier, and not someone dressed like one?"

"Of course I'm sure! He took my son into a van and cast some sort of spell that made it impossible for me to move! The driver's laugh as he pulled away-"The woman seemed to deflate and burst into tears, and Cloud stiffened, looking at Reno.

"The driver's laugh . . . could you copy it?"

"It was loud, and abrasive, it sounded like Gya-ha-ha . . ."

Somehow, hearing that really pitiful attempt at Heidegger's distinctive laugh made Reno's blood freeze.

"That sonuva-" Reno cursed and shot towards the apartment Heidegger had.

The door was open, and everything was pretty much cleaned out. Just the larger pieces of furniture remained. Steps behind him signaled Cloud, and probably the parents of the missing boy, had followed.

"We should have just locked him up, forget 'unreasonable holding', we should have just made him disappear!"

"We didn't know he'd do something like this, the guy was a warhorse and embezzler." Cloud pointed out, and Reno felt a hand gently rest on his shoulder for a moment, before pulling away. "Ma'am, did the soldier have a helmet?"

"Yes . . . I recognized him as second class, he had the uniform for one . . . The van was black and paneled, I think there were a couple other people inside." The mother wiped her eyes.

"Alright, Could you go and write down everything and anything you remember about what happened, including events leading up to the Soldier taking your son? Also, Abel, if you could start calling around, making sure that anyone nearby keeps an eye on their kids . . ."

Reno kept half an ear on the rest of conversation, exploring the kitchen trash for anything left behind on accident.

"Of course- you know who did this?"

"Heidegger, he was let go because there was proof of embezzlement, and some questionable projects . . . Abel, I promise, we're going to find your son. I'll try to keep you in the loop as much as possible." Reno paused, looking at Cloud. That was the oddest thing to say . . .

"Thank you, Cloud. We'll get right on that." Abel pulled his wife away.

"You know you can't tell them everything, right?" Reno asked as he started looking through cabinets.

"I can tell them if the investigation is going well, and I think Abel's wife would kill me if I didn't try to tell her what I could." Reno glanced up at Cloud, and noticed some healing scratches on the other's bare arm. "I'm calling Tuesti; let me know if you need help." Reno waved the other off, finding a vial of something in one of the cabinets. The label was partially torn, and all that was left was D-G:23-, the last couple digits were destroyed by a dark spot.

Reno pocketed it, and then headed to the bedroom, deciding to check the closets on the way out. The bedroom was empty, and Reno opened the bedroom closet door, expecting it to be empty.

CRASH! "Shit!" Reno hit the ground as everything shoved in the closet fell on top of him.

" . . . I don't think I needed to know what was in that closet." Cloud commented from the doorway. Reno looked up at him in surprise. "Tuesti's putting an APB on the black van and Heidegger. Need help?"

"I'm okay . . ." Reno picked up a box that had fallen on him, and froze in disgust. "Why does Heidegger have a pole dancing kit?" Several kits, and several boxes of other toys that made Reno want to gag.

"And a lot of boxes for handcuffs . . . which are empty." Cloud frowned. A couple boxes were ShinRa Issue, which were strong enough to hold Soldiers.

" . . . Some of these are marked small, yo." Reno looked at the boxes, going through them quickly and quietly. "Damn, he must've charged this stuff; I'm going to introduce the idiot who was supposed to be monitoring Heidegger's expenses to my rod when we meet him. He probably bought all this stuff at the same place, but he only wanted the handcuffs . . ."

". . . he's planning on needing restraints to hold a lot of people, some of them Soldiers, others children . . ." Cloud pointed out softly, before turning his back to Reno to study the nightstand by the bed.

"That comfortable with me to be showing your back already?"

"Nope, Mini Cait's got a Thunder equipped just in case . . . and he's been behind you this entire time." The Soldier sounded amused.

Reno twisted around to see the robotic cat smiling up at him, playing with a broken pair of handcuffs.

" . . . I completely forgot you were here, yo." The Cat must have hidden himself under that weird-apron-like-thing Cloud wore.

"Don't worry, we won't tell Tseng." Cloud frowned as he held up a token. "Gold Saucer . . . where is that?"

"No idea, I've never heard of it." Reno watched Cloud pocket it. "Let's go check the other closets, and then head back."

* * *

**Director of Soldier Office, ShinRa, Midgar**

"Where's Angeal?!"

Lazard jumped, startled, and the two Second Classes he'd been talking with reached for their weapons.

Genesis with Zack in-tow (the younger first class had returned from wedding planning to find an almost frantic Genesis) ignored them.

"I don't know, I haven't seen him today, though I got an email saying he had to be taken off duty for a while." Lazard blinked as Genesis dropped a PHS on the table.

"Angeal's PHS. Who sent you that email?"

"Hollander did. Has something happened?"

"We can't find him, and no one in medical or science remembers seeing him- Dr. Crescent said Hollander left not long after arriving this morning, but she's been dealing with a new secretary so she doesn't know where he is now- he's not in his office or lab." Zack explained as Genesis glared at the two soldiers for staring.

"I'll notify the president, Strife's in the Turk wing, working on a mission with them, by the way."

"_Ripples form on the water's surface . . ._" Genesis ran a hand through his hair. "Sephiroth's in Wutai, he won't be back for another week . . . I'd like Zack and myself in charge of this investigation."

"Just Soldier Fair, Commander, you're needed to oversee the rest of Soldier while I deal with the troopers." Lazard met Genesis's glare head on. "I'm sorry, but the Junon First classes are busy with their usual summer training, if General Sephiroth was here, I would have no trouble assigning you this investigation, but I need you to keep Soldier from panicking. I can have Fair report directly to you on anything he finds, but you have to stay here."

"Understood." Genesis was about to storm out, when Lazard stopped him.

"Genesis . . . While I need you to stay here at ShinRa, I certainly can't stop you from doing whatever you want here."

" . . ." Genesis gave a short nod, and Zack quickly followed the very angry commander.

Lazard glanced at the two soldiers who were still frozen. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell or write anyone about this."

"We're not idiots sir; I'd like to live a long natural life."

Lazard gave him a wry smile, and quickly dialed his brother's office. "Professor Hollander and Commander Angeal Hewley appear to be missing, Commander Rhapsodos and Fair are going to be looking into it . . . Fair will be doing most of the footwork, Rhapsodos has reluctantly agreed to stay here." Lazard pulled the receiver away from his head for a moment and glanced at in confusion. "What was that? . . . I understand, I'll be there in a moment." Lazard hung up, and glanced at the two soldiers. "I really hope I'm wrong, but could you repeat what you mentioned earlier about a couple soldiers not showing up for drill today? It was before you explained why Sgt. Thompson and four trainees were in Medical."

"Well, Second Class Luxiere normally shows up for drill early, he wants to be promoted again, but he didn't show. We figured he was sick and didn't check on him . . . we're not that close."

"The other two we don't know that well either, but we figured they caught whatever Luxiere had."

"Essai, Sebastian, I want you two to go and check their bunks and medical and report back here in an hour, if I'm not here, report to Lt. Commander Fair and send a email copy of that report to me."

"Yes Sir!" The two saluted and left, and Lazard stood, grabbing his PHS. His mind wandered back to the odd noise that had come over the phone. The noise was familiar sounding, and not odd in and of itself . . .

But his brother wasn't the type to randomly get a puppy . . . was he?

* * *

**Costa del Sol**

Tifa picked up her PHS on the second ring as she walked down the street to her job. "Lockheart- Oh, hey Cloud, I was just-"

"Tifa, Denzel's been kidnapped by Heidegger." Cloud's voice was quiet, and Tifa had a feeling that he was gripping the phone too tight.

"His parents?"

"His mom's livid and his dad is pacing the floor, I'm halfway between joining him or just going down to the slums without backup and asking around." Cloud let out a breath. "Anyway, I need you to be on the lookout, Heidegger's got a couple Soldiers and Troopers helping him, and we don't know if they left the city or not, or what sort of transportation they have."

"Got it, I'll ask around . . ." Tifa trailed off, staring at a pole where the missing child poster had been hanging.

"Tifa?"

It had been joined by three others, and Tifa felt a little ill.

"Tifa?"

"Cloud . . . have any other children gone missing in Midgar- Slums or topside?"

"I don't know, I'll ask . . . but Heidegger had a lot of handcuffs that would fit children."

"Because I think it's more than just a couple Soldiers and Troopers . . . We've got four children missing in Costa, there's a chance it might be more, I've got to ask around."

"Don't take any unnecessary risks, Tifa."

"Same to you, send an email to the others, I'll send one in a bit."

"I'm working with Reno, but I'll try to be careful. Legend still around?"

"Yes, Veld cleared him for active duty before he retired, and Tseng also cleared him, but he says he'd rather stick around Costa for surveillance. He likes the bar I work at, so I'll probably see him tonight."

"Good luck."

"You too." Tifa hung up, and quickly took copies of the missing child posters. She'd hang them up in the bar, her boss wouldn't complain. In her hurry to get to work, she missed the young man watching her from across the street.

* * *

**Emperor's Palace, Wutai**

"Captain Cranky!"

Cid Highwind yelped, and then cursed as a hyperactive ninja princess hugged him from out of nowhere making him drop his cigarette. "Damn it, girl, what have I told you about that!"

"You haven't asked Shera out, so what you want is not important?" Yuffie grinned at him. "C'mon, it's not like how it was, you could ask her out without her ever knowing what a jerkass you could be."

"And that's why I'm not asking, Yuffie." Yuffie froze as Cid looked at her. "I did a lot of damage to her the last time, she might have claimed it was her fault to begin with, might have even forgiven me, stayed with me . . . but that doesn't change the fact I was still cruel and cut her down verbally every chance I got. She's a brilliant woman now, she's got her own career, she deserves better than me."

" . . ." Yuffie didn't say anything before hitting Cid on the head. "That's just dumb! Yeah, you screwed up majorly last time- we all did, remember? Barret and Tifa were eco-terrorists, Vinnie was so messed up we thought he'd go back to that coffin, Nanaki had some serious daddy issues, Reeve and Cait Sith initially planned to betray us to ShinRa, and let's not get into Cloud's issues, we'd need a book, and I was just a rebellious princess-thief, and that's not getting into everyone else's issues . . . but we're all getting a second chance now that Jenova's evicted from the planet with Professor Creepy-pants, and if all that we've done, that we did, can be forgiven . . . You still deserve a chance to ask Shera out. The worst that happens is she'll say no, right?" Yuffie pointed out. "And this time, you can give her the chance to walk away."

" . . . Of all the times for you to make sense, wait, you've been !ing talking to Mama Strife about me and Shera!" Cid glared at her.

"Hey, she likes hearing about what we were before we came back! And how would you know?"

"First, you just admitted it; second, she mentioned me giving Shera a chance to walk away when she talked to me a couple weeks ago."

" . . . Damn. But you'll consider it, then?"

" . . . Yeah, I'll consider it." Cid lit a new cigarette.

"Good, then, I've got a favor to ask." Yuffie sat next to him.

The word 'favor', sent a chill up Cid's spine. That word with Yuffie had many meanings, usually ones that were asinine and had him questioning his sanity. "What sort of 'favor'?"

"Well, I need a ride for Dad and me to Costa, I want to introduce him to Mama Strife- I've been unable to do anything other than introduce them on the phone, but Dad's too busy with matters of State to talk casually, so that hasn't worked." Yuffie kicked her feet. "And Cloud can't bring his mother here, he's too busy and Mama isn't much of a traveler on her own . . ."

"I'll think about it. How're you going to get him to agree?"

"Oh, I've been working on that, he should agree before you have to leave." Yuffie offered him an innocent beaming smile that made Cid feel sorry for Godo.

* * *

In another room, Sephiroth and Godo were discussing the withdrawal of troops with a small council. The ceasefire was tenuous at best, and still hostile at worst.

"We can pull out troops here in the next week. It's going to take time to mobilize them to leave, and some may not want too. I know of a few men have taken wives at different villages."

"And it might not be feasible for them to move." Godo nodded, studying the map. "I would like for this peace to be more than just words . . . perhaps I should meet with this new President of ShinRa in person." One of the council members actually squawked in surprise. "Is there any neutral ground we can agree on? My daughter mentioned several places in her travels that had a small ShinRa presence."

"Cosmo Canyon and Nibelheim are too remote . . . perhaps the best places would be Costa del Sol or Mideel." Sephiroth pointed them out on the map. "I will have to talk with our new President."

* * *

**Cosmo Canyon**

Nanaki headed out for his evening run after another day of keeping the peace, practicing spells on any stray monsters that tried to cross his path, and debating on using his PHS headset to call someone. A sixth sense had him dodging something that impacted against the stone. It was a dart. A ShinRa logo proudly displayed on the side.

Nanaki growled, and took off, engines roared to life as the hidden men gave chase on motorcycles and jeeps.

"Voice Activation, Red XIII, emergency!" He set of his own emergency signal to the others, and mentally cursed the fact Deneh didn't have a PHS as well. He quickly shook off a Confuse and Sleep as he turned to go deeper into the canyon, and began recording a message- a useful feature Reeve had recently added. "All contacts, this is Nanaki, humans are trying to capture me! Repeat, Humans, possibly ShinRa, are trying to capture me." He jumped over a large chasm, losing a few pursuers, but a couple jumped it as well. "Motorcycles, materia and dart guns, they want me alive, possibly for study, where are they going to take me, I don't know, but I expect a rescue sooner, not later this time."

A helicopter passed overhead, and Nanaki felt something prick his leg, and he felt the limb start to go numb as he tried to find a cave to hide in. A second prick in his side, and his vision started to blur.

"Found it!" A voice yelled, and Nanaki growled trying to focus.

"I'm hit, and I'm out of magic, please, hurry!" And then the world went black.

* * *

**Needed a rank for Cloud, 'Major' is a popular one for Zack in some older fics, so I used it. (Final Fantasy VII seems to mix up Army and Navy (with occasional Air Force) ranks up quite a bit- 'Commander' is Navy, while 'General' is army, for example. Lt. Commander is actually the navy equivalent of an army major, but sounds like it's higher up. A Captain like Cid is the equivalent of an army Colonel, and yeah, that's it on my note on ranks.)**

**Denzel's mother struck me as a very strong woman, especially since both her and Abel went out to warn people about the plate going to be dropped. Does anyone know what her name is? I can't find my notes for her anymore.**

**Jessie Blanc is Jessie (or Jesse, depending on spelling) of Barrett's Avalanche from FFVII. Life is a little different for her due to all the changes made by the other characters, and as you can see, she's managed to not get involved with Avalanche, or even Biggs and Wedge . . . why do those two names remind me of Star Wars (The Original Trilogy, not the prequel)? Blanc, depending on the language is either 'white' or the word blank misspelled. I wasn't feeling all that creative with making a last name.**

**Realistically, we know there are a few more firsts at this time period than Crisis Core gives. Zack could not have been the only one since Angeal, Genesis and Sephiroth to achieve first. 'The Junon Firsts' will remain unnamed, describe, and without much presence, except as a reason why at least one of the trio needs to stay in Midgar.**

**I think I messed up the map again . . . someday, I will find a reliable map, I swear.**

**And the plot gets catapulted forward. Next chapter: unwanted visitors, missing people, and Kunsel. Oh, and a upset Yuffie.**

**Hmm . . . dunno when I'll post next, not feeling too good recently. I think it's because I've been taking morning and evening shifts at work (Waitressing) and trying to clean the house so my mother doesn't have to stress on top of an unpaid internship two days a week. And College classes two days a week. To those of you still in high school (or even middle school) growing up is not as fun as you think it is. It's a lot more work.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Got a break in the work schedule, so I've been writing this during breaks of studying math. **

**Again, you all raise good points in reviews. This chapter will have a few answers, along with a scene (or two) that managed to disappear from the last chapter.**

**This is an ALTERNATE UNIVERSE DUE TO TIME TRAVEL. As such, EVENTS HAVE BEEN ALTERED FROM CANON. This is also a sequel to Ripples in Time, and therefore, you should read that first.**

* * *

**President's Office, ShinRa, Midgar**

"You . . . have a puppy?" Lazard blinked at the odd creature that was sitting on the couch next to Rufus, gnawing on a bone, the odd whip like thing on its head bouncing a little. "What is it?"

"She and a few of others in her litter were found in the science department. Apparently, Hojo signed off on a genetic cross breeding program to create Guard dogs that were intelligent and capable of taking on high level opponents. No name, but the creator wanted to call them Guard Hounds, after a creature his grandfather met." Rufus rubbed the puppy's head, smiling a little as it took a brief break from the bone to lick his hand, before returning to the bone with renewed vigor. "Dr. Crescent cleared the program for survival, though there's not going to be a continuation unless the creatures breed on their own. I'm going to call this one Dark Nation."

(Lazard would later find out that the project was (had been) named P28-DNA, and Dark Nation had been labeled DNA-10. Rufus was not as creative with names as Reeve, but he was certainly better than Scarlett.)

"Well, I guess having a guard dog for the President is a good idea." Lazard sat down next to Rufus. "What did you want to see me about?"

"Heidegger's gone on the run, he kidnapped a child from the Sector Seven plate, and he had Soldiers with him. Strife is investigating with a turk. You said Hewley's gone missing?"

"Along with a couple Soldiers, and Hollander." Lazard sighed. "There's a chance they're still in the building somewhere, and we haven't found them . . ."

"But Hewley would never do something like this, and Hollander's . . . methods, are too much like Hojo's?" Rufus pointed out, gently resting a hand on Dark Nation's back. "You're going to assign Fair . . ." Rufus trailed off, and Lazard recognized the look that had gotten him dragged into meeting Mrs. Shinra, and then tricked into introducing the younger man to Lazard's mother (who, while the reception was a little chilly at first, had enjoyed meeting her son's brother).

"Should I be claiming 'Plausible Deniability'?" Lazard asked cautiously.

"No, I was just thinking that Strife and Fair might be working the same case from different starting points. I should probably ask Tseng to assign a Turk to help Fair, just in case they don't though." Rufus shook his head. "Dr. Crescent's auditing of Hojo's files has proven without a doubt that the man was insane, several experiments on living people, most of whom were experimented on until they died, just because he had free reign to experiment on everything, including how long it takes someone to die. Several of the experiments have the former President's signature."

"We knew he wasn't a saint." Lazard pointed out, softly. "We knew this company had a dangerous ugly side that was hidden from view, though we got glimpses of it."

"What scares me more is how close I am to being just like him." It had taken him some time, the ten years of surviving after Meteor, to realize that people weren't just numbers to be changed or erased when necessity called for it. It had taken Tseng's mentoring, Cloud's repeated refusals (to become a number, a tool, that Rufus had wanted to use to rebuild a obviously flawed empire), Reeve's knowing ignorance of where some of the funds came from, and a stubborn girl named Marlene who, once she was old enough to understand the whole story of the events leading up to Meteor, Geostigma, and Deepground, had called him out on his behavior.

The callous treatment of people had been drilled into him since he was a child by his father's focus on business and casual betrayals of his wife, and his mother's habit of pretending everything was alright (to the point of treating his father like a missing piece of a puzzle that no one tries to find, even though its absence is obvious), and occasionally treating Rufus as something to tolerate when things didn't go as planned. (Something he would like to change, but had no real knowledge to fix. Sephiroth, for all his inability to understand things like small talk and popular culture, was doing better than he was.)

"No, Rufus, _you_ actually try to reach out to family for more than just profitable gain." Lazard rested a hand on his brother's shoulder. "You might manipulate people into doing what you want, that's unavoidable, but you're not like him, Rufus, you actually make the effort to care." Even if it was an incredibly awkward effort that was born out of too many years believing that manipulation and deceit were better than outright truth, with a lack of knowing how to show something other than confidence and false politeness. "I won't let you become like him, neither will anyone else that cares about you."

Rufus closed his eyes, and brought up his free hand to rest on his brother's. "Thank you." They stayed silent for a moment, before Rufus gently squeezed Lazard's hand, and pulled away. Lazard let him, dropping his hand to his side. "Now, who is in charge of trooper rotations?"

* * *

**Vice President's Office, ShinRa, Midgar**

Reeve and Vincent both stared at the token Cloud had found. Their confusion hadn't abated since Cloud had first dropped it off to them, before heading to the Slums with Reno to try checking out the underground information.

"_I have to get back to Reno, but I've got something you two should look into." The two had looked up in surprise as Cloud entered the room, Mini Cait having stayed with Reno, still upset at Reeve._

"_What is it?" Cloud put the token on the desk._

"_It's from Gold Saucer. Reno's never heard of it, and a quick check on the Turk's map and location database confirms it doesn't exist. The problem is, Heidegger had it." Cloud explained, glancing at Vincent. "Lucrecia's Theory . . . you might want to get her input on this." Vincent just nodded, Cait Sith hopping onto the desk._

"_Maybe he just made a casino, Laddie."_

"_I doubt Dio would settle for just a casino. The man has a flair for a show, and an ego to match." Vincent studied the token._

"_We'll look into it, Cloud, you better get going before Reno comes to kidnap you." Reeve tried not to smile at Cloud's annoyed look. Still a point of annoyance, then._

Cloud had left with a soft 'good luck', and Reeve and Vincent were left with a token that shouldn't exist.

"Well, staring at the wee thing isn't going to get ye answers." Cait Sith pointed out, making the two move at last; Vincent to stand off to the side of the desk, Reeve to straighten himself up. "Ye got to start somewhere, why donnae ye start with a computer?"

"If it's not on the Turks list . . ." Reeve was already starting to type.

"It might not be much of a threat." Vincent pointed out. "They don't have that 'Dirty Angel's Tavern' that's in Sector Two listed."

"Why not?"

" . . . Most of the clientele are in their golden years." Vincent ignored Reeve's searching look. "The Turk's only list locations that might be a threat to ShinRa." Reeve accepted that, and turned back to the computer.

"What's Lucrecia's theory?"

"Simply put, she doesn't think we actually came back in time, so much as the planet used its energy to 'reset', pushing the Jenova cells that were scattered back into Jenova's form, changing the form of the world back to what it was, and allowing us to retain our memories of how things could go." Vincent explained, picking up the token. "The massive use of energy would force everyone back to where they were at the time would effectively wipe out the memories of the two decades, with a few stray wisps that could be written off as déjà vu for some."

"That doesn't explain why Jenova wasn't in the reactor, or the actual proven time travel."

"Someone did come back in time, that we know, and started changing things. We assumed it might have been Jenova, but it's possible that, once the Calamity reset, possibly before we were reset, she called out to Hojo to be moved."

" . . . That still leaves someone else that came back, and started this mess."

"Yes, and this might be a clue to that person." Vincent quietly pocketed the token. "What does the computer say?"

"According to this advertisement, Dio's in Kalm, starting up a new attraction . . . but there is a proposal of his to Mayor Domino, about an 'entertainment facility' for Midgar . . . no name, but that was proposed a few months ago."

"I'll go check in with Lucrecia, see her opinion, then I'll head out to question Dio." Vincent decided.

"Then I'll talk to Mayor Domino . . . get his opinion, I need to actually talk to him more anyway." Reeve closed his eyes, remembering the man that had been turned bitter by ShinRa's interference, to the point of helping obvious terrorists out.

That was when the emergency alert went off, a familiar howl of a friend, signaling Nanaki in danger.

* * *

**Officer of the Day's Office, Main Soldier Floor, ShinRa Midgar**

"And none of you thought to check on where Commander Hewley might be?" The squad (that Angeal had been supposed to be working with earlier) was standing at attention, most too afraid to breathe in the face of a very annoyed Crimson Commander. "Or report that he didn't show?"

"Well, sir, it's happened before." One apparently suicidal recruit spoke up, much to the horror of the rest of the squad.

"What has happened before?" Genesis rounded on the recruit. A girl, which was rare, most usually washed out within the first couple months, unable to deal with the constant testosterone and stupid stunts which occurred in a male dominated environment.

"Commander Hewley not showing up, sir. He said he was having some issues with the mako boosters that were being given to him, and that if he didn't show up to train anyway, he'd review our performance on the security cameras, sir." She replied, face straight ahead.

"And how often has this happened, Recruit?"

"In the six months that we've been training, I believe only ten times, sir, maybe more, but the Commander only missed ten training sessions, not counting today."

"And you didn't find anything strange about that?"

"I did, sir, but the Sergeant I reported to told me to reign in my maternal instincts and focus on myself." Genesis went silent, all but glaring at the recruit.

"And who was the Sergeant you reported too?" Zack quickly took over, as Genesis apparently was so frustrated he couldn't speak.

"Sergeant Holden, sir." Genesis all but frightened the poor soldier who was Officer of the Day as he grabbed the duty roster, looked at it, and then stormed out of the office.

"What's your name, Recruit?" Zack offered her a winning smile.

"Irish, sir."

"Recruit Irish, you did the right thing regardless of Sgt. Holden's opinion and Commander Rhapsodos' current temper, if you remember anything else, report it to me via PHS email, OOD over there can give you my email. Thank you." Zack took a couple steps back and gave the recruits a small smile. "I know you're all doing your best to make it into Soldier, and disobeying orders is frowned upon, but if you believe that a fellow Soldier is in trouble, no matter what the reason, please, report it. It might be nothing, but it might also be serious, and the soldier in question might not realize how much trouble they're actually in. We may call on you again with further questions, but for now, you're dismissed!" The recruits scattered, Recruit Irish quickly getting the contact information before disappearing as well.

"Sgt. Holden is in Training room 5, sir." The OOD spoke up, and Zack nodded in thanks, before heading to catch up with Genesis.

Genesis was waiting for the elevator, glaring at it.

"Stairs might be faster."

"I'll be more annoyed if I take the stairs, and Holden just started his session." Genesis exhaled. "Angeal never said anything, and we don't need mako boosters so regularly."

"Withdrawal?"

"That's only if it's mixed as a pleasure drug, you and Strife still need following up because we don't know much about what Hojo did, but your bodies are still reacting to it, and the mako mix helps stabilize you." Genesis sighed. "Hollander might have started something using Angeal as a test subject. The man hasn't been happy with Dr. Crescent's 'interference' in his work." Genesis scowled. "You better go talk to the doctor, see what she knows about Angeal visiting Hollander, I'll deal with Holden."

"Alright." Zack nodded, and took off.

* * *

**Science Department, ShinRa, Midgar**

Jessie rubbed her eyes, feeling a little sick as she went through the notes. Dr. Crescent's predecessor had been a very creepy individual, one of the 'terminated' experiments had been a child, described simply as 'three year old male' once and then just given a number.

"It might be easier to input them by titles, and then continue sorting from there, instead of reading them." Jessie jumped as the strange man in a tattered red cloak appeared out of no-where (had she been paying attention, she would have seen him come through the door, but she'd been focused on the papers instead).

"Right, um, who are you?"

"Vincent Valentine, is Lucrecia in?"

"She's resting right now- um." Jessie watched Vincent just walk past. '_Guess that's her boyfriend, then, he's really creepy.'_ She thought as she glanced back at the files. '_Though not as creepy as this guy was- that was a little girl, not a number!_' The only saving grace was that Hojo described things technically, with words Jessie didn't know, so she didn't know exactly what the man had done. Not that that made it any better.

* * *

"I thought you were supposed to be resting." Lucrecia froze like a child caught with her hand in the cookie jar. On her desk were several files spread out.

"I found one of the missing mixes, Hojo had it combined with a medicine used to help the body get over mako poisoning. Problem is, the files it references are missing, and with the data base incomplete, there's no way of finding them short of manual searching." Lucrecia rubbed her eyes. "Did you meet Jessie?"

"Yes, she looks like she's capable."

" . . . What's wrong? You only go cold like that when something's wrong and you don't want to say it outright."

"Cloud found something that shouldn't exist." Vincent pulled out the token. "From what we can tell, this place doesn't exist, though it existed in the original timeline. He wanted to know how your theory could explain that."

"It doesn't." Lucrecia frowned. "That shouldn't exist."

Vincent pocketed the token again, frowning a little in thought. "I'm going to be going to Kalm for a few days, check out leads, will you be alright?"

"Yes, I'll call if I'm not." Lucrecia gave him a small smile.

As Vincent left, Zack came in, and Lucrecia got the feeling she was going to eat her own words again.

* * *

**Mayor's Office, ShinRa, Midgar**

"Yes, how can I help you?" Mayor Domino looked up, carefully hiding the scowl that wanted to form. While he was appreciative of the new changes in ShinRa, the fact remained that he was still a mayor in name only, and it chaffed at him.

"I have a couple things I'd like to go over with you, if you have the time." Vice President Tuesti entered with a small briefcase, big enough to hold files but little else.

"Always time for the Vice President." Mayor Domino smiled. "Please sit down."

"Thank you, as you know, we're busy auditing the company, getting rid of some programs and changing others, and we've hit on a slight snag." Tuesti sat down across from him. "You see, before I was promoted, I was in charge of Urban Development, and the main focus was the construction and planning of the plates and public transportation in Midgar."

"I was aware of that." Mayor Domino shifted, hoping his distaste hadn't slipped out.

"Well, as Vice President, I can no longer devote my attention to one department, and in one of our meetings to figure out what to do, I realized we were going about this the wrong way." Tuesti took a deep breath. "Mr. Mayor, would you be interested in taking over part of Urban Development? If you wish to have a new building, we can arrange it."

"And I suppose I'd have to answer to ShinRa?" It was how he'd gotten stuck in this office, ShinRa completely taking over to the point he was just a puppet that went to openings and events.

"No, Midgar would be solely your jurisdiction, we can work out an arrangement where we pay for the spaces taken up by our personnel, or some other financial arrangement. We would request that you leave the plate as it is for now, and focus on the slums, but it is entirely your discretion. You could have your own building on the plate if you wish, I believe there are some unsold properties."

" . . . What would the catch be?" Because there had to be a catch.

"We'd still have to work together on occasion, and it will be a slow transfer period, about six months to a year to make sure everything goes smoothly."

"And the parts of Urban Development I would be getting?"

"About sixty percent of construction, half of city planning, and forty percent of the safety force. We will train the safety force and send some of our veterans to oversee, but after the transfer it will be your discretion to keep them."

"Only forty percent of the safety force?"

"That's total, roughly fifty percent of the force is currently in Midgar, you'd be getting the majority."

"I suppose Soldier and the Turks would remain with ShinRa."

"Yes. We would of course have to ask your permission to run missions on and below the plate."

" . . . It seems too good to be true." Domino leaned back and studied Tuesti. "I have watched as slowly, ShinRa has taken everything from me, and now, you are offering everything I have wanted since. How do I know you are trustworthy?"

" . . . I was the one responsible for President Shinra's accident." That was not the answer he was expecting. "I don't know how aware you were of how badly things were going, but my department, Air and Space, and Soldier were prepared to leave the company entirely. Things got out of hand, and well, I needed to make a way out."

Domino was torn. On the one hand, the man in front of him had caused an accident that hospitalized the former president. On the other, the man in front of him had caused an accident that hospitalized the former president, and gave Domino a chance to be more than a puppet on a string by doing so.

Well, he supposed he wasn't too torn up about it.

"How do we start?"

* * *

**Wall Market, Slums, Midgar**

"Well, that was useless." Reno muttered as he rejoined Cloud at the Wall Market after a couple hours of working the bartering system (people in the slums, even when faced with threats, were not the type to be scared by a Turk). "What?" He snapped as he noted Cloud's amusement. (Or he guessed it was amusement, one corner of the other's mouth was trying to twitch up.)

"I thought Turks were better at information gathering. Something go wrong?"

"It was everything we'd heard before, Heidegger purchased a lot of sex toys and handcuffs, was with a couple troopers, and that's it, yo." Reno paused. "Wait, did you get something?"

"Heidegger was seen in the company of Don Coreno, a couple days ago. Apparently, they were closing a deal."

"How did I miss that?"

"She was too nervous to speak to you. It took me a few favors for her to tell me anything."

"Did she know anything else, like what the deal was?"

"No, she did trade numbers with me in case she heard anything else." Cloud turned and started walking, heading towards Coreno's mansion.

"Great, what's her name?"

"Chelsea." Cloud showed him a picture of the back of a woman with light hair, she was obviously walking away from the camera, and had no idea that it was being taken.

"No last name?" Reno studied the picture- she was pretty average in height, probably average in looks, too.

"None that she wanted to give. I didn't pry." Cloud put the PHS away. "How should we get in to see Coreno?"

The trip to Don Coreno's place was fairly short, but it gave them enough time to come up with a plan of action.

Said plan, wasn't something a tactical genius would have suggested, as it ignored stealth, skipped diplomacy, and went straight into beating the poor idiots who got in between them and the self-tilted Don.

Don Coreno and his right-hand man Kotch attempted to escape through the sewers, but Cloud was there before they could open the entrance.

"You have no right to do this! I am a very important man!" Don Coreno glared, or tried to, anyway, at Cloud, whose expression was completely blank.

"Yeah, the amount of illegal and semi-illegal projects you've got shows that, yo." Reno tapped his electric rod lightly in his hand. "But you've apparently sunk even lower than dirt, now."

"Like you're any better!" Kotch snapped, trying to look intimidating.

"Strife, I'll take the Don next door so we can have a talk, you can have that trash." Reno easily manhandled the overlarge man out of the room. Cloud grabbed Kotch's arm and stopped him from trying to protect his boss.

"You've got no right to do this, man! Thought ShinRa was cleaning up its act!" Kotch glared at Cloud, and did a far better job than Coreno.

"It is, your boss is the one who made a deal with a kidnapper." Cloud studdied the man in front of him. He didn't know what happened to him, the first time, though he was pretty sure Kotch had survived Meteor and later supplied tips to the WRO.

"Kidnapper?"

"Heidegger. Bought a large amount of sex toys and handcuffs one day, the next, he was seen kidnapping a child, with several other potential victims unconfirmed." Cloud let Kotch draw his own conclusions.

He wasn't disapointed, Kotch practically turned white at the blatant implications.

"The Don wouldn't do somethin' like that!"

"Right, and telling a little girl he'd make her his 'bride' when she got older-"

"That was a joke! He wouldn't lay a hand on a kid, not like that! I wouldn't work for a guy that did that to kids!"

"Then why was he making a deal with Heidegger?"

"Just, he was just getting rid of some real estate he didn't want, a couple places in Kalm and some place called Ice Inn. Heidegger offered a lot of gil for them." Kotch met Cloud's eyes. "I swear, I'm not lying, Heidegger just wanted the properties, they didn't talk about anything else!"

"I believe you. Do you have any information about the places?"

"The Don's office." It didn't take long for Cloud to get the copies of the files from Kotch, before he knocked on the door where Reno and Coreno were.

"Turk, I've got what we needed, let's go." Reno left the room with a smirk, and a odd stain on one sleeve. No one made a move to bother them as they left.

"So, where are we headed?"

"Kalm, then Icicle Inn."

* * *

**Emperor's Palace, Wutai**

"Nanaki's in trouble, we need to rescue him!" Yuffie was pretty close to working herself into a panic. "I knew we shouldn't have split up, nothing good ever happens!"

"Calm down, you'll give yourself wrinkles." The mangled unlit cigarette in Cid's hands belied his words. "Tifa's closest, she'll be able to find out what happened. We'll head out if she needs help."

"But that might be too late!"

"Yuffie, we can't all just go running off every time something goes wrong."

"If we stuck together, we wouldn't have to go running off every time, we'd already be there." Yuffie retorted.

"Already where?" Godo and Sephiroth entered the room after another round of negotiations.

"Nanaki's gotten kidnapped by scientists! Tifa's going to search for him, but we need to go help." Yuffie explained, ignoring Cid's hand covering his face. (In exasperation.)

"As grateful as I am for Nanaki's looking after you, I see no reason why you must go after him." Godo frowned, already feeling the headache as Yuffie's eyes narrowed.

"Nanaki did take care of me while you were so busy fighting a war and making deals with monsters. And that is exactly why I have to go."

Sephiroth had frozen in place, watching the two as if expecting them to suddenly try to attack each other. Cid, on the other hand, was sending a message to the others, and hoping Barret would respond to this one.

"I cannot allow you to go running off if there are scientists willing to kidnap children!"

"I'm a teenager! If you want me to prove myself, I'll take on the pagoda, and everyone in it!"

Cid froze, cursed, and erased part of his message to type something else. Sephiroth blinked trying to figure out what he was missing, especially since Godo had suddenly calmed down.

"You'll need witnesses."

"Captain Highwind and General Sephiroth will be my witnesses." Yuffie put her hands on her hips. "I can start right now."

"I'll inform the council, then." Godo left, and Yuffie let out a soft huff of air.

"Helped take down an alien, this will be cake compared to that."

"What's going on?" Sephiroth had gotten lost at some point during the conversation, and when Yuffie didn't answer, too busy grabbing a large shuriken (and how had she managed to hide that?) from a corner, he turned to Cid.

"Yuffie pretty much just challenged Godo for her right to do what she wants. You and I just have to make sure she gets through the challenges without help, and if she does, I'm probably going to end up taking her to search for Nanaki." Cid sighed. "Anything on Hewley?"

"Genesis hasn't responded to anything I've sent after he told me Angeal and Hollander were missing." Sephiroth felt frustrated, but the best he could do was finish this assignment as quickly as possible in order to help.

"C'mon you two, hurry up!"

* * *

**Costa del Sol**

Tifa absently pounded her fist on the stable door as once again, she got Barret's voice mail. "Barret, it's Tifa, Nanaki's been captured, I'm going after him since I'm the closest. I'll call you again later. Please reply, you're starting to worry us." She hung up and entered the stable, one of several complimentary stables in Costa for those travelers with Chocobos, with a soft huff. "Legend better be able to find out what's happening with those missing children." She informed the blue chocobo waiting for her. "Let's go find Nanaki." She grabbed the reigns, and the outside stable door slammed shut, making the chocobos in the stable panic. "What's the big idea?"

"Hey, Tifa." Tifa stared at the guy in between her and the door, trying to place where she'd seen him before. "It's uh, Johnny, we lived in Nibelheim together?"

"Oh, hey." She could have hit herself. With all the changes they'd been making, she'd completely forgotten the other . . . who hadn't even tried to get into Soldier this time. He would have left with Cloud, and Tifa knew Cloud had gone alone this time.

He'd stayed in Nibelheim, so why was he here?

"Hey . . . you look good."

"Thanks. I've kept up my training. Is there something I can help you with? Because I've got to go . . ."

"Your dad's looking for you. He's uh, pretty determined to find you. He sent me and Ralph out to try our luck and bring you home." Johnny explained.

"That's nice, I'll try and write him . . . wait, seriously?" Tifa looked at him sure the other had gone crazy.

"Yes, so, we should start heading back to Nibelheim." Johnny could only stare in confusion as Tifa burst out laughing.

"Oh, sorry, but, you're being so serious . . ." Tifa chuckled, and shook her head. "Sorry, Johnny, I can't go back, there's someone who needs my help, and he's in real trouble. Tell my Dad I'll try and visit some other time, okay?" With that, she hopped on the chocobo, who was more than willing to start running through the now open door of the chocobo stable.

"Tifa, wait! Oooff!" Johnny was knocked back by a guy in a suit, the one that opened the stable door.

"Y'know, you really shouldn't mess with my partner like that." Legend had wanted to talk to Tifa one last time before she left, and hadn't liked the way the kid had tried to corner Tifa. "She's too nice to knock you down a peg, but me, I don't have that problem."

"Who are you? And what are you talking about?"

"Call me Legend, kid, as for what I'm talking about, it's classified."

"Well . . . if she's your partner, why aren't you going with her?" Johnny wanted to hit himself after that attempt at an argument.

"Because she doesn't need protecting, she's a big girl." Legend studied the kid in front of him for a moment. "But I will need a partner, I think you'll do nicely for a replacement." Internally, Legend was grinning. "Time to see the world Tifa's been living in, kid, it's a lot bigger than your mountain town." Legend grabbed the back of the kid's shirt, and pulled him out of the stable.

He was going to enjoy this. A mystery and some poor soul to mess with, life was good.

* * *

**Unknown Location?**

_His student was staring at him in hurt and some sort of stubborn refusal of something. The other's mouth moved, and he wished he could hear what was said. In the next moment, he was moving forward. He realized too late what was going to happen as he felt his arm move slamming his fist into the other. His student went flying back, but he couldn't stop himself from moving again as the other got up._

_As the spell shot out, Angeal could only watch in horror and panic as Zack didn't even try to block . . . _

Angeal awoke with a start, the nightmare still vivid in his mind. His attempt to rub his eyes was stopped by something holding his wrists.

Disoriented and confused it took him a moment to realize he was handcuffed to a hospital bed, in a rather small hospital room. But he had no memory of how he would have gotten there . . . the last memory he had was talking to Genesis about eating more, before he went to see Zack . . . so how had he ended up here?

"You're awake!" Angeal glanced to see a Soldier standing in the doorway. "You had us worried, sir, after what the professor said . . ."

"What am I doing here?"

"Uh, well . . . I should get the professor, he can tell you more than I can." The soldier vanished, letting the door close.

Angeal shifted on the bed, trying to figure out where he was. A hospital room, but not one he recognized- he had a sinking feeling in his stomach that something was wrong.

"Ah, you're awake, what's the last thing you remember?" Hollander entered the room, looking rather relieved.

"Talking with Genesis, I was going to go meet Zack . . . where am I?"

"I see, so you don't remember anything that happened after talking with Genesis . . . interesting and somewhat expected."

Angeal tried not to snap, feeling oddly angry that Hollander was cheerful about something.

_Something's wrong._

"Professor, where am I and what is wrong with me?"

"You're in a secure facility, as for what's wrong, I'm not surprised you don't want to remember, something was wrong with the last dose I gave you, makes you rather unreasonably angry."

Angeal wasn't so sure about the 'unreasonably' part, given that he was handcuffed to a hospital bed. But something in the way Hollander had said that . . .

_Zack didn't even try to block . . ._

That hadn't been a dream, it had been a memory. Angeal felt horrified at the certainty of the revelation.

"I hurt Zack?" Angeal managed in a whisper.

"Not too badly, he'll make a full recovery given time. We'll just focus on getting you back to normal, I'm sure he'll forgive you." Hollander did a couple other basic checks of vitals before leaving, but Angeal didn't pay attention. He barely even twitched when the door opened.

"Um, Sir? Would you like something to eat?" The soldier from before had returned and hovered just inside the doorway, clearly hesitant to approach Angeal. "Sir?"

"Nothing, thank you Soldier . . .?"

"Luxiere, sir, I'm a friend of Zack's." The second left when Angeal stopped paying him any attention, and in a few short strides, reached a small lab where Hollander was working.

"We'll have to fix a few things before we can proceed, there's a few flaws in the cells that need correcting, compared to Genesis, but Angeal's cells clearly have more capabilities." Hollander smiled. "Without any more meddling, I'm sure I can create an army Hojo could never have."

Luxiere shifted, but remained in place and ignored one of the monitors.

It was far too late for him to run, afterall.

* * *

**Kunsel's Mind, ShinRa, Midgar**

_Turk Kunsel watched, sometimes as an observer, sometimes as if he was doing the actions himself, as a Soldier version of himself searched for something._

_He thought the other him had found it, when he blocked a second class soldier from leaving a training room. _

"_What the hell, Luxiere?"Soldier Kunsel blocked the other. "You want to explain why you emailed Zack and offered to turn him in?" _

"_What?"Luxiere froze, obviously not prepared._

"_Zack's been missing for five years, now ShinRa's hunting him and you want to turn him in? I thought you were loyal to Zack."_

"_I am, but there's nothing we can do at the level we're at. If we expect to have any sort of pull, we've got to get promoted, as fast as we can."_

"_Zack was promoted to first class, look where that got him."Turk Kunsel blinked, and suddenly a fist collided with his (no, the soldier his) face. No weapons or materia, just a fist fight that ended with him kicking out and knocking the other soldier back._

"_You don't know a damn thing, Kunsel. It's obvious, if you play by ShinRa's rules, you'll be fine." Luxiere retorted, wiping blood from a split lip. "I know you plan to leave ShinRa, I won't say a damn thing about you to anyone, but don't you dare pretend you're better than me."_

"_If anyone's pretending, it's you." The words left his mouth, and the scene shifted, changed._

_A cliff side, littered with debris._

"_Please, no, damnit . . ." Soldier Kunsel moved past the Turk version, focused on a body lying in a slowly drying puddle of blood and rain. "Too late . . ." Turk Kunsel moved forward, and froze as he stared at the dead body of Soldier Fair in a first class uniform. Both versions' gazes were drawn to a gouge in the earth, created by something heavy and sharp. "Sorry, Zack, I need your PHS . . ." The scene blurred, and Turk Kunsel listened through the ears of his alternate as a warning was given about Avalanche in the building._

_Instead of charging in quickly like the rest, Soldier Kunsel held back, shocked at the familiar buster sword wielded by the blond in the first class uniform._

"_Why is Strife attacking ShinRa?" But like all of Turk Kunsel's questions, no one answered. He sighed, and once again resigned himself to following the alternate version himself._

* * *

**Johnny is seen in a couple scenes of FFVII, as well as Denzel's case, On a Way to a Smile. From what I understand, (and this is keeping in mind translation issues, cause Japanese has one story and English has a slightly different version) Johnny is from Nibelheim and also washed out of the soldier program, but got a job and was able to move his parents from Nibelheim to Midgar to join him. That's my way of making sense of the translation issues, anyway, so I might have made a mistake. (And I'm correct about Ralph being one of Tifa's boys she used to play with in Nibelheim, right? I mean, I think it's at least a fanon name for one of the boys, anyway.)**

**Not going to go into detail on Yuffie vs. Pagoda. You'll find out the result next chapter.**

**Abel, Chloe (Denzel's mom, thanks Irish-Brigid! I named a character after you for the help, hope you like her.), Johnny, Essai, Sebastian, Jessie, Chelsea, Mayor Lockheart, Mayor Domino, Kotch, Dio, Turks, Luxiere, Kunsel . . . As you can see, I'm trying to use more background characters in this fic, and while I can't promise a happy ending for everyone, things are going to be different.**

**That said, I know I'm horrible person for writing Luxiere like this. But that last message he sends to Zack, the one where he suggests Zack lets him capture him so he can get promoted and then help Zack, can be understood in so many different ways. Luxiere might be genuinely trying to help Zack by trying to manipulate the system, but honestly . . . I came away with the feeling that Luxiere would do anything to get stronger, even sell out a friend he wants to help. And that's a slippery slope to be on, especially in ShinRa. More on this later.**

**Still working on Barret's story, which will be posted as 'Ashes of Corruption: Dust Storm" and you people will hate me for what I do there.**

**That said, I'm going to be editing the titles of my other fics in this verse, for the sake of easier searching for the one shots, and short stories. (Someday, I will go back and edit Ripples in Time, make it longer and add the plot lines I had to discard, maybe even adding in the one shots, but we'll see.) This process will take a while of course, as I no longer have unlimited free time. (Also, I might be expanding a one shot or two, maybe. Depends on when I have free time.)**


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